Waldorf Quantum Synthesizer In-Depth Overview

At the 2018 NAMM Show, Waldorf introduced the Quantum synthesizer, a new flagship synth that builds on the company’s wavetable technology, along with the power of analog filters.

We talked with Christian ‘Bubba’ Ayoub, who gave us an overview and demo of the new synth.

According to the company, the Waldorf Quantum ‘combines the raw power of a classic digital & analog hybrid synthesiser, with futuristic sounds that are only possible with today’s software synthesisers.’

The Waldorf Quantum offers 3 oscillators per voice, each of which offers four synthesis algorithms:

Waldorf-style Wavetables with the latest additions from Nave, including speech synthesis and wavetable generation from audio

Classic Synthesizer Waveforms with multiple waves for an ultra fat sounds right out of the oscillators

Granular Sampler with multi sampling plus traditional sampling mode

Resonator for virtual sound sculpting

Other highlights include an intuitive panel with aluminum knobs and encoders; high-resolution multi-touch display; and multi-color LEDs.

Korg only has one filter per voice from what I see. This beast has two analogs and a high quality digital per voice. And that’s just a single feature comparison. Seems like the price points make sense.

Enthusiasm excluded it would be nice to see someone able to put 3 notes together or at least a synthesist demo this thing..I mean you hear all the talk and the sound snipsets are completely amateuristic and childish..This is embarrassing really.

An iPad can blow away just about any synth available, in terms of synthesis options and capabilities, so that doesn’t bother me.

Something like the Quantum can excel at being an INSTRUMENT that you want to play, that has great tactile features and that’s a reliable and permanent solution for performance. Those are all things that software isn;’t as good at, and things that make a synth like this so sexy.

Of course – I’d expect a synth like this to be able to handle a lot more polyphony and effects before it breaks a sweat than an iPad or even a desktop computer.

Is, “…an instrument that you want to play, that has great tactile features and that’s a reliable and permanent solution for performance” worth over $3,000 more? Especially when there are soft synths that can “blow away” hardware synths.

I suppose the $3,000+ differences are subjective. Waldorf obviously isn’t aiming their Quantum product at amateurs on a budget.

It just seemed odd to compare an expensive synth like this to things that can only be done using (much less expensive, as in waaaaaaay cheaper) software synths.

I’ve had first hand experience of coding on an embedded quad-core ARM7 synth, and porting the same code to iPhone 6 – which turned out to be easily 5x more powerful. The truth is that Apple can afford to put powerful custom CPUs in their iProducts, something small synth manufacturers find very difficult to compete with.

I like Waldorf products a lot but they should not compare a synth with an instrument. One can express oneself so much more with vocals, string instruments and wood and brass instruments.The music by those instrument do have most of the time lots of dynamics which you won’t find in music made by synths.

Since we’d probably agree that it *sounds* impressive, you just have to accept that its a seriously boutique mega-synth and not meant for mere mortals with mortgages. I once dropped 3 large on a synth that was The One, so it can happen if you really bond with it. I found the perfect balance between Gear Lust and serious commitment. Sheesh, sounds like I’m gonna marry it, but yeah, a fair number of people are going to make this one a centerpiece in their rigs. It has a nice aroma of Best-of-Waldorf-In-A-Box. Stay tuned for the Nick Batt review; that’ll tell us what’s what!;)

I don’t hear anything I haven’t heard before. A blind listen based on this I’d have guessed it’s an early 80’s PPG Wave. Synths of the last 50 years seem to fall into two main categories. Either warm lush analogue or DX7 style plink plonk pluck.

AHHHH that quantized noise at 8:52…..such good vibes. This thing is very progressive while having a vintage charm, hope to get my hands on it. I see granular synthesis being the next big thing for the next few years (along with VCO polysynths)

I agree. Hopefully they’ll do some in depth demos that show the wild side. I really want to see the sampling in action – with all the modulation options and analog filters I’m guessing it will be very tasty

“with futuristic sounds that are only possible with today’s software synthesisers” -> So Waldorf are implying that software synthesisers are in general technically superior than hardware synthesisers. For years I had a feeling this might be true, now this is the first company post I read that openly acknowledges it.

uhhhhh, not really. Most software synths are incredibly nerfed under the hood. A lot of them are not solving modulation at anywhere close to sample rate, for example. They are using awful ancient filter DSP that breaks up in unpleasing ways in the high and low frequencies and turning into an annoying ringy mess with high resonance. And the software synths that don’t cut these corners ( Serum, DiVA etc ) can easily eat the processing power of an expensive computer with 8 voices.